Cloth-cutting machine



(No Model.)

P.- L. CRON. G .LOTH CUTTING MACHINE.

4Patented Nov. 19, 1895.

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(No Model.) l .4 sheets-sheet s.

I.` L. CRON. CLOTH CUTTING MACHINE.

No. 549,999. Patented Nov. 419, 1895.

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P. L. GRON. CLCTB: CUTTING MACHINE.

No. 549,909. YPen-,9119991 Nov. 19, 1895.

ANDREW E.GRAMAM.PHOTO'LHHOAWASHINGTUMDR UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER L. CRON, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.

CLOTH-CUTTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 549,900, dated November 19, 1895.

Application filed December 28, 1894. Serial No. 33,158. (N0 mOdeL) To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER L. CRON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usey ful Improvements in Cloth- Cutting Machines and I do hereby declare the following to be a full," clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of Areference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improved construction of the machines usedV for cutting cloth and linen, generally known as clothcutting machines, said improvements being embodied in the supports for the roller, in my description known as the housings, these being constructed'so as to carry the roller more efficiently over the die-plates, and being furnished with means to throw the said roller out of action and support it in inactivity on its return movement until its action commences again. I furthermore move the housings over the bed-plate by a system of friction and cog-wheel gearing and furnish a special mechanism which, acting in combination with said system, makes it possible for the operator to control the individual speed of the housings in their course over the bedplate, and as a consequence regulates the roller as it is carried by the housings over the bed-plate and the thereon iiXed die-frames, so that it does not encounter a die-knife laterally parallel with it, all of which improvements I shall now proceed to describe, and finally embody in the claim hereunto attached.

In the drawings accompanying this specification, like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts, and in them Figure 1 presents a side view of my improved cloth-cutting machine; Fig. 2, a plan view ofuEig. 1 showing the foot-pieces to which the housings are bolted, with the hollow stems and double T- shaped ribs broken'oif; Fig. 2A, a front and side view of one of the small friction-disks RS, and Fig. 2B, a front and side view of one of the forks Working inthe-rillR12 of-'said disks. Fig. 3'is an'endl View of`the bed A, showing how' the pieces C, whereon the foot-pieces B of housings are bolted, rest on and are guided over such bed-plate by means of the grooves shown therein. Fig. 4 is a side view of one of the housings. Fig. 5 is a side view of the telescopic gui de -for the housings. Eig. 6 is a top View of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a section of a die-plate. Fig. 8 is a side view of the roller. Fig. 9 is a front and side view of the elevating-wedge. Fig. 10 is a side view of the hand wheel unscrewed from the top of the housing. Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the bed-plate, vshowing the housings secured thereto. Eig. 12 is a detailed side view of the brackets, friction, and cog-wheel gearing, omitting the screw-cutf speed-regulating rod and its forks, showing, however, only the gearing needed to move one housing. Fig. 13 is atop view of Fig. 12. Fig. 14 is a front view of Fig. 12 after a section on line R13, but showing the gearing for both'housings; and Eig. 15 is a top view showing the bearings for the roller and the stems for Ythe housings in sections with the roller-'supports resting therein.

In describing my invention I have in Figs. 1 and 2 depicted a cloth-cutting machine as a whole, for the purpose of more plainly illustrating how my improvements aifect the machine in its entirety.

Acknowledgin g that the idea of cutting out patterns lin cloth, linen, &c., embodied in a bed-plate carrying die-frames with a roller supported in bearings passing over said dieframes and cutting the material into required patterns has been patented,-I claim Ain my device to have brought such mechanical parts into a more perfect working" order, into a greater harmony with each other, and more especially to have reconstructed'the housings and connected them with the motive-power by means whereby'they can be made to move down over the bed-plate at 'different rates o f 4 speed entirely novel and unknown VV.torthisi class of machinery, rendering 'thus the whole machine more perfect and proving itself a great saving in the time, labor, and'skill which is now expended i'u cutting' outpatterns. Y

In Fig. 1 A represents the bed-plate of my improved machine, uhaving oneach side grooves A', running the entire lengthof the bed-plate, for the purposeof guiding housings B. lt is furthermore furnished with slots A2, which slots,ialso ruiming the whole length of bed-plate, and have holes A3 drilled into them throughout their length to admit pins A4 on wedges A5, of which there are four-two at each end of bed-plate A. The function of same will be described in connection with the housings.

A6 indicates holes drilled throughout the whole length and breadth of bed-plate for the purposes of admitting pins P2011 die-frames, thus securing the frames and permitting them to be placed anywhere on the bed-plate.

Fig. l shows a side view of 011e of the housings, and as they are both constructed alike, only one need be described.

Rising perpendicular from the foot B' is a hollow stem B2, supported or braced by a double T-sl1aped rib B3. The foot B' of housing B, as can be seen in Fig. 3, is fastened by mea-ns of bolts D to a piece C, planed and f1tted so as to run smoothlyin one of the grooves A' on bed-plate A. The hollow stem B20011- tains bearing E, supporting one end of cylinder or roller F. Said bearing E is constructed so as to yield slightly in order to prevent the shaft end it holds from being bent in case said bearing E should be elevated sooner than its companion bearing in the other housing, and as will be seen in Fig. 15 the stems B2 are cylindrically shaped on the inside and have the bearings E itted inside of them similarly shaped, so that any movement made in either of the two directions indicated by the arrow-heads, the bearings E will turn in-their respective stems and the two supports FB and F4 will, as a consequence, yield and be subject to no strain, and as they are prolonged outside of the face of bearings will not, by being drawn apart, disappear inside Of the bearings and cause uneven wear or indenting in the bearings, but will always have their full length supported, and as the bearing E is shaped in conformity with the inner shape of stem B2, which is cylindrical, it will be seen that the bearings will yield to a forward or backward movement on the part of the roller. Stem B2, furthermore, contains a nut G,having a smaller projection G', around which lies coiled the top of a spring H, the bottom of said spring H resting on bearing E, being held in position by a projection E. Passin g through nut G is a screw I, manipulated by a hand-wheel L, and the top of the hollow stem B2 is constructed so as to have one collar of the telescopic guide that connects and steadies the movement of the two housings at the top itted smoothly around it. Fitted on top `of the collar, screw-cut in order to bear on this collar with its ange N', is a hexagonal nut N, having an olfset N2, bearing inside of the eye ill', and a screw-cut part N2, which lits in the neck or top of stem B2, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. at. Screw l is screw-cut up to collar I' in order to give an up-and-down movement to nut G, which compresses spring 1I,thc rest of it being turned smooth, and passing through nut N is secured to handfwhecl L by pin li. The bearing E rests on a pin h2, screw-cut on the portion passing through a nut E3, and can,by an octagonal-shaped collar E", be screwed up and down, thus raising or lowering bearing E. The lower part ofpinli12 passes through foot B' and slides in slot A2 and will, when encountered by the elevating,- wedge A5 at the feeding end of bed-plate, be thrown upward, and as bearing E rests on the top of it, said bearin gs, and speaking oit' both housiu gs, said bearings will. consequently be elevated, carrying the cylinder or roller F with them, which cylinder will consequently cease its pressure on the material in process of being cut and will, by the action of spring O8 continually pressing pin (Y against bearing E, and when this is thrown upward and pin O5 passes underneath itas a consequence, spcakin g of both the bearings, keep the roller F out of touch with material until it reaches its starting-point, where a device is provided for releasing it again. This consists of a fork-shaped bearin g O of which the shorter fork O' has a right-angled lever O2 pivoted to it, the horizontal end of which rests ou top of a pin O3 and the vertical embraces the head O4 of a pin Head O4 has another pin 0" with a spring O8 coiled around, which bea-rs against the face of a bush 07, through which the pin O(i passes. The action of this device is the following: The spring OS, being compressed between bush O7 and the head O4, will naturally push pin O2 inward, and as pin O5, passing through a hole in the stem B2, is continually pressing again st bearing E,it will, when E is by the action of pin E2 pushed upward, pass underneath it and sustain it there until it is removed, which it will be when pin O2 on the return movement of housings comes in contact with the elevating-wedge A5,placed in slot A2 at the. starting-end of bed-plate, throwing pin O3 upward, which acts on lever O2, throwing head O4, having pin 05, over toward spring-pin O5, consequently passing from underneath bearing E which then drops down on pin E2 until the next movement.

The housings are connected at the top by the telescopic guide M. (Illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6.) Said guide consists of three partsa hollow tube M', in which slide two pieces M2 and M3. Each of these pieces has a collar which lies around the upper part of stem B2 and is held fast byange N', the tightening of nut N thus aifecting guide M. The utility of this guide M consists, consequently, in binding the two housings together and steadying their movements, and being eonstructed in the manner described will, as the arms can be pushed into and drawn out ofthe tube M', permit housings to move ahead of each other, as the two arms M2 and MS will simply be drawn out of tube M', as described.

IThe roller F, Fig. 8, is made of wood, preferably, and rests between two flanges F' and F2 and is turned to a diameter less than that of the anges in order to admit of a covering ICO IIO

being drawn over it, made of rubber or any other material suitable to pass over the dieknives without dulling them and yet hard enough to insure material being cut clean through to the required pattern.

The die-frame P, as shown in a sectional view in Fig. 7, is made of cast-iron and is on the edge, following the shape of the pattern desired out, milled down, leaving an offset for the band-knife blade P to rest on. Said knifeblade P is made of well-tempered steel about one-sixteenth of an inch thick, with as many holes as are required to bind it to cast-iron pattern rim and is held there by screws screwed into said rim. The pattern-plate itself is on the bottom furnished with two pins P3, one in front and one in rear, said pins fitting in the holes A6 furnished in the bed-plate. The space between the knives contains a board P4 for material to rest on, and the space underneath the board P4 is filled with pieces or cork or any other soft springy material for said board to rest on during the process of cutting.

At one endl of bed-plate A are two brackets Q, having bearings Q3 attached for the support of the two screws R, that passing through the nuts S, fastened on housings B, carry said housings over the bed-plate, and two bearings Q4 to support the two cylinders Q' and Q2. These last supports have the holes containing the upper cylinder Q out out oblong in order to raise or lower said cylinder according to the quantity of material to be cut, and the cylinders are constructed hollow, so that they can either hold hot water or steam for a given length of time or can have hot water or steam conducted through them, the object in this being to subject material to a kind of mangling and ironing process, so as to keep the material passing between them perfectly straight and free from wrinkles.

At the end of bed-plate A, where the starting-point of housings is, and where gearing is located that establishes connection with the motive power, the ends of the screws R, passing through nuts S, attached to housings, are supported in bearings R and are furnished with bevel-gears R2. These gear into their respective pinions R5, that are keyed on the shafts R14, supported in brackets R4, said brackets R4 carrying each a shaft R14 with pinions R3 keyed on and having keyed on to them gear-wheels R5, gearing with their respective pinions R5, keyed, respectively, on the shafts R7 and R9. These shafts are furnished with a keyway R18, each throughout their entire length, and the friction-disks R8 are furnished with a tight-fitting key R19 fitting in said keyway and will, consequently, in revolving, carry the shafts with them, but can be moved laterally across their shafts,by what means and for what reasons will be described later on. Shafts R7 and R9 are supported at their outer ends by the extension-arms R15 on brackets R4 and at their inner ends by bearings R10 and R11 cast on bracket T. Fricthese.

tion-disks Rs receive their motion from the large friction-disk U which, being keyed on the same shaft V as pulleys WV, receives its motion from them. Pulleys XV and frictiondisk U are supported in bearings T and T2 cast on bracket T, which latter is fixed on bed-plate A. Friction-disks R3, as formerly described by the key and keyway mechanism, can move laterally on their respective shafts, at the same time revolving with them, and the impetus to such lateral movement on their part is given by their individual construction and connection with the following mechanical elements: Brackets R4 are each furnished on their horizontal extension-arms R15 with a vertical upright arm X, having a bearing which supports a screw-cut rod Y, Said rod is smooth-turned on the part resting in bearings, but screw-cut on its entire length between inner faces of bearings 00. On this screw-cut part it carries two forks Z, shown in detail in Fig. 2B, each furnished with a screw-cut head Z, through which rod Y passes, and two prongs Z2 and Z5, embracing a rill R12 on friction-disks R3, as shown in Fig. 24. Rod Y is furthermore furnished with a handle Y', which will, when manipulated by operator, carry the two forks Z, and with them the two friction-disks, either to the right or the left, and said friction-disks RS will, according to the position in which they may originally have been set, move simultaneously across the face of the large disk U, and having disk U pressed up against them by suitable means will revolve with it, and each disk, according to its position near to the center of disk U or toward its circumference, will be accelerated vor retarded in its revolutions, and inV transmitting this power to its individual shaft, and by the intervening gear-wheels to the housings, will accelerate or retard these. Having thus the disks R8 set to suit the occasion, the motive power, as transferred to the pulleys XY, will transplant itself to the large friction-disk U, and from that go down on both sides of the machine through the two small friction-disks R8, moving on their respective shafts, said shafts having keyed on their ends pinions R5, these gearing into their respective gear-wheels R5, keyed on shafts R14, supported in brackets R4,'said shafts R14, having keyed on their ends bevel-pinions R3, intermeshing with bevels R2, that are keyed on the end of right and left screws R, supported by bearings R', same screws R passing through screw-cut nuts S fastened on housings will consequently move As formerly described, said housings support in the bearings E the roller F, and previous to starting the housings, when the material has been drawn over the die-frames a certain amount of pressure has to be given to the roller, which will insure the cutting of the material by the die-knives. This pressure is obtained by manipulating the hand-wheels L, which will compress the springs H between nuts G and bearings E, and bearings E, carrying roller F, roller F will, as a consequence,

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be pressed down on the material. The housings having been set in motion by the screweut rods R, working in the nuts S, will then carry roller F at a preferably slow rate of speed over the die-frames, and roller F, in pressing material over the die-knives, will thus sever the material into the patterns formed by said die-knives and at the end of the bed where the wedges A5 are. encountered by the elevating-pins E2, described in connection with the housings, said pins, on account oi' the throw given them by inclined planes on wedges A5, will elevate bearings E, and consequently lift roller, and as pins O5, through the action of springs O8, are pressed in on bea-rings E, said pins O5 will, when bearings E are thrown upward, pass underneath them and support them there until the pins 03, onv the return movement of housings, encounter the wedges A5 lying at the starting-point, and these wedges will act on pins O3, throwing` them up, thereby removing pins O5 from underneath bearings E, as a consequence releasing said bearings E, and with them the roller l" supported by them, which resumes its position on the material with the same pressure as given at the firstinstance ready for the next movement down over the die-frames.

The sum and substance of my invention will thus be seen to consist in, first, that as the housings supporting the roller travels slowly down over the bed-plate having the dieframes arranged on it the operator will be able to regulate the cutting angle of the rollerviz: avoiding the roller attacking a die-f rame, one of whose knives, forming the pattern, lies exactly parallel with the roller. In other words, the roller must always attack a dieknife at one of its ends and pass down over its edge at a certain horizontal angle, and this is atta-ined by the two small friction-disks moving across the face of the friction-disk by means of the forks Z, screw-cut to match rod Y, and supported on it, and these being once set on rod Y in a certain position will, when handle Y' is turned according to their individual distance from the center of the large disk, accelerate or retard one or the other of housings, as the case may require it. This the manipulator of the handle Y has it in his power to do during the movement of housings over the bed-plate, as said movement is a very slow one, and it is in connection with this that the efficacy of the teleseopic-guide M will be seen as binding the housings together and steadying them at the top, as the arms can be drawn out of and pushed into the tube M. Secondly, the simple but practical method in which each die-frame containing a pattern by its two pins is held on the bed-plate, the holes in same spreading throughout the length and breadth of it, with only one-half of an inch between them either way. Thirdly, the mechanical elements relating to throwing the roller out of the position it occupies when pressing material down over die-knives at the terminus of its course over the bed-plate and those elements that release it at the starting point preparatory to its course over the dieframes, and, lastly, in the whole combination of the friction -disks and gearing from the large frictiorbdisk to where the nuts are attached to housings, single elements of which may have been used heretofore, but not in this combination, nor relative to cloth-cutting machines, all of which having now been dcscribed l shall. proceed to specify in my claim, and in so doing desire to secure Letters Patent for the following combinations.

l claim- In a clotlrcutting machine of the character set forth thc bed-plate having tracks, the housings guided in said tracks and having a telescopic guide connecting them at the top, the roller supported in said housings, said housings furnished with horizontally and vertieally adjustable bearings supporting the roller, a catch and release device, with corresponding elevating wedges located in bedplate tracks, acting on the adjustable bearings; in combination with means reciprocating the housings over the bed-plate in the manner described, for the purposes as set forth.

ln testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 21st day oi' December, 1804.

PETER L. CRON.

lVitnesses:

AXEL V. BEEKEN, AUGUST M. Tensor-row. 

